The Phantoms and the Fortune
by Green Platypus
Summary: Months after their capture of the Pterodactyl ghost, the gang is named in the will of the late Col Sanders. Soon the disappearances of the other heirs propels them into a new life or death case. Sequel to The Terror and the Pterodactyl. AU.


**Scooby Doo 2**

The most beautiful experience we can have is the mysterious.

**Albert Einstein **

**Part 1: The New Normal**

'Run, Run, Run' that was all Shaggy could think. The clunky glowing diving suit barreled down on him and Scooby. That glow reminded him too much of The Pterodactyl Ghost, he still had nightmares about that, but it was normal now. It had been almost two months since their first case together, almost two months of terror, but he was getting used to it now. After all, he had friends now, and at least one was as scared as he was.

"Like come on Scoob."

"Right regrind roo"

"All right, just lead him to the net." Fred said.

Shaggy and Scooby ran for the net. They ran right across it and jumped out just before it lifted the ghost of Captain Cutler off of the ground and high into the ceiling.

"And the ghost is, Captain Cutler," Velma said as she pulled the large antique diving helmet off.

When the police came it was the same old routine, explain the plot, haul the bad guy away, and back into the van. Fred drove them to Mysteries Incorporated, the bookstore owned by Velma's uncle. It had become a tradition after a case to go there and hang out for a while.

"Looks like heavy traffic." Fred remarked.

"It's pretty late, maybe we should all just go home." Velma suggested.

"Like, yeah I'm pretty tired." Shaggy said.

"Ree roo" Scooby seconded.

**Part 2: Colonel Saunders**

Shaggy sat on the couch in his room, Scooby curled up next to him.

"Like, that was a freaky one, huh Scoob"

"Rompararivrey, ro"

"All right, the one with the Civil War ghosts was way weirder."

Now that Shaggy thought about it, the civil war ghost had been their first case after the Pterodactyl Ghost incident. Colonel Beauregard Sanders, who was according to Velma a noted civil war historian, had been plagued by a small army of smugglers pretending to be civil war ghost in order to steal some artifacts from Saunders' private collection. Saunders had been very grateful to the gang for stopping them. He had even offered them a very generous reward, which they had politely declined. Shaggy was interrupted from his thought by his cell phone.

"Like, hello, Shaggy Speaking."

Scooby watched Shaggy as his normally calm expression turned serious.

"Of, course, I'll call the others. I'm so sorry to hear this, he was a wonderful man."

"Rut ris rit?"

"That was Emma Warner, the Colonel passed away, and we've all been named in his will."

**Part 3: The Boat**

Fred pulled the Mystery Machine into a parking lot at the marina. Palm trees blew around in the wind. At the end of the dock they could see the boat that would take them to Saunders Manor, located on a small island off the coast. As they exited the van they looked around at all of Sanders' relatives, the gang felt very out of place. Fred and Daphne went to talk to Emma Warner, the Colonel's granddaughter, who was about their age, leaving Shaggy, Velma, and Scooby to unpack the bags from the van.

"Like, remind me why we packed bags." Shaggy said

"Colonel Sanders' estate lawyer told us to, he didn't say why."

Shaggy loaded the last bag onto the cart that the crew was loading onto the boat. As they walked to join the others on the boat, Velma noticed that Shaggy was playing with an elaborate ring on his right hand.

"What's that?" Velma asked.

"Oh, like this. It belonged to a great, great, great, a couple more great's uncle of mine, who fought in the Civil War. I though Sanders would appreciate it."

Shaggy held it up for Velma to look at. There was a design on it, like a V over an H.

"What's that symbol?"

"Like, search me."

As they walked onto the boat Velma went to look for Fred and Daphne, Shaggy pulled a wrapped sandwich out of his pocket.

"Like, liverwurst and ice cream, wanna bite Scoob"

"Ra, Ra!"

"All right here take a bite"

As Shaggy held the sandwich down for Scooby he could see the marina fading away into the distance, soon they would be pulling into the dock on Sanders' private island.

"Like, no turning back now Scoob, Scoob?"

Shaggy turned to see Scooby chewing on the last bits of his sandwich.

"Hey, like Scooby come on, that was supposed to last me until we got to the island."

"Rorry"

"Like, it's okay, come on let's see if there's any food on this ship."

"May I have all of your attentions please; it is time to read The Colonel's will." A voice rang out from the ship's PA system.

**Part 4: The Will**

The gang joined the assembled relatives on the ship's main deck. The man who had spoken over the P.A system stood before them all. He was a skinny man with a gaunt face; his suit looked like it was a leftover from the Victorian era. Slowly the man stood up from his chair and began speaking; his voice was slow and deep.

"For those of you who do not know, I am Colonel Sanders' estate lawyer Cosgoode Creeps. My partner, Jacob Crawls, was unable to attend; he is busy with financial meetings. As you all know the Colonel was quite… eccentric, his only request was that I play this record for you all."

Creeps pulled out an old record and placed it on a positively ancient looking gramophone. It scratched for a moment and then began to play. A couple of the relatives gave a little shudder at the sound of the late Colonel's distinct southern accent.

"My beloved Family and friends; Cousin Simple, Nephew Norville, Sweet cousin Maldahyde, Cousin Slicker, my beautiful daughter, Amber, My son in law Michael, my lovely granddaughter, Emma, and of course Fred, Daphne, Shaggy, Velma, and my old pal Scooby Doo, without whom I would'na lived long enough to make this record. You are all here for the readan'a my will, well this is it. You'all gonna receive an equal share'a the fortune so long as you spend one night in my old house… by the way, it's haunted. Any you' all leave, your share is given 'ta the others. I know somma you will be angry about this."

"Darn right" Yelled Cousin Slicker.

"Well can it, you complain an you forfeit your share ta the others, but that'd be a shame as there's more than enough money to go around to all'ah you. I doubt any of you will be wantin any piece of this house but if you do then take it. If only one'a you stays in the house then the house and the fortune go to you. Good luck you' all."

The needle began to skip, chk, chk, chk. Everyone was silent. Creeps began speaking again.

"So, no doubt you have figured out why you were asked to pack bags. I understand that this is highly unorthodox, but as the record stated, if you complain, you forfeit. When the boat lands at the island, all of you who wish to participate may disembark, anyone who wishes to forfeit now may come back to the harbor with us. Anyone who wishes to leave before morning may call the ship to be picked up. I will return in the morning to pick up all of you who remain, if any."

**Part 5: The Dock**

As they disembarked the boat they could feel the resentful eyes of the Sanders family on them. However, that was preferable to the imposing structure that lay before them. The house itself was in good shape, but something did not feel right, as if some of the rooms had been added on later and didn't really seem to be part of the house. Emma Warner walked up to them.

"Pretty freaky huh, I always knew my grandpa was weird, but this is a shocker."

"You mean the haunted house thing?" Fred said.

"Yeah, and this whole contest for the inheritance thing, some of my cousins are a little upset about that."

"Yeah we noticed" Said Daphne, who was getting a pretty unnerving look from Cousin Slicker.

"Oh don't worry about him; he's just been kind of hard on his luck lately." Emma replied.

"Well none of your cousins look very happy to see us." Daphne said "You know, I don't really need the money, maybe I should just leave now."

Oh no, you are not leaving me with my nut case relatives." Emma said.

"Yeah, come on Daph, It'll be fun." Fred said.

"Oh, all right" she said sharply "Where's my stuff?"

Just then a loud cry of pain went out.

"Jeez, Velms, like, what've you got in this thing? Bricks?"

"No just some clothes, a flashlight, my laptop, my microscope, some slides, and ten or twenty books."

"Like, what've you got a book for every occasion?"

"Actually, yes, but this is only about a fifth of my library."

"Velma, I'm getting you a kindle for your birthday, this is ridiculous. Hey Scoob, how's it coming with Daphne's stuff?"

"Relp, roh rany roos!"

"I'm coming buddy, hold on."

As Shaggy ran off to go help Scooby, Velma wrestled a book from her bag, _The History of Coolsville and Its Surrounding Islands, _and began reading. Daphne began to walk towards her.

"What are you reading?" She asked, as she lifted one of the bags over her shoulder

"I've been doing some research on the area, apparently there are a lot of islands in this area but most of them are too rough to be built on, some of them are just caves."

"Interesting" Daphne said, trying her hardest to be sincere. Velma was her friend, but she could be pretty hard to talk to.

Shaggy and Scooby walked up holding Daphne's bags between them.

"Like why couldn't the crew help us with the bags on the way off of the boat?"

"They already left," Velma, answered.

"Aw man, Scoob and I were gonna leave back for the mainland after we helped the rest of you with your stuff. Our bag was still on the ship"

"What was in them?" Daphne asked.

"Like, food."

"Rooby racks"

"You didn't pack a toothbrush or any toiletries?" Velma asked.

"Or clothes?" Daphne added.

"Like, I've got my toothbrush on me."

Fred walked up and patted Shaggy on the shoulder, I have a spare set of clothes you can borrow."

Shaggy looked as though that statement scared him more than any monster ever had.

**Part 6: The House**

As the last of the group entered the house and closed the doors Scooby felt a growing sense of unease about his situation, aside from the fact that he would have to go a whole night without any Scooby Snacks. He looked around the house, everything seemed so big, he knew this was a matter of perspective, as a dog everything seemed big and looming, but he was a very big dog. He was big enough to see the old portrait of Colonel Sanders hanging in the middle of the room, that was one thing he would never understand about humans, their desire to have photographs of each other, and more strangely, of themselves. Dogs were not like that, Scooby was the oldest, by a matter of seconds, of a litter of four, and could remember his entire family perfectly. That's not to say that he could remember everything, but the things most important to him were etched into his mind. As for self portraits, they simply confused him, why pay money for this when you can simply by a mirror. Another thing he noticed was the way that the eyes followed him wherever he moved. He could see it in Shaggy's eyes to, Shaggy was the only human he had ever met who could feel the atmosphere in a room the same way a dog could. Only months ago that skill had saved Scooby and Velma from being experimented by an insane Bram Stoker fan, and now they were spending the night in a haunted house.

Velma felt a mix of fear and excitement as she walked through the old house. True, it was old and musty, the colonel must have been miserable here, but all of the history in the house and the island was so fascinating. She could not wait to visit the house library. Her fantasies of out of print books were interrupted by Michael Warner.

"Okay everyone, so we're going to be spending the night here, there are just enough bedrooms to go around… if a couple of you don't mind sharing rooms. Emma, Daphne, Velma, there is a three bed room down the hall." He said scanning a map that Creeps had given him. Shaggy, Fred, and Scooby there is a two bed room down the other hall."

The list went on but Velma was eager to visit the library, so she and the other girls hauled their stuff to the room. Once they got there, her desire to visit the library almost completely faded, the room was a spectacular piece of history, the furniture the oil lamps, it was like being in a Sherlock Holmes story. She whipped her camera out and began to take pictures, when she heard a howl from down the hall. She knew it could only be Scooby. She bolted down the hallway and threw open the door into the boys room, Daphne and Emma right behind her. She could see Fred and Shaggy in the bathroom trying to pull the bathtub out of its bolts in the floor.

"What happened?" Velma asked.

"Like, Scooby was in here taking a bath and the tub just tilted back into the wall, and then he was gone."

"Gotta be a way to open this thing" Fred said.

Daphne pushed him aside and began scanning the wall, eventually her hand settled on one particular panel above the tub. The gang watched in amazement as she pushed the panel into the wall and the tub slid back, like a mine cart, into a dark tunnel.

"How did you do that?" Fred asked in amazement.

"I used to spend summers at my aunt and uncle's house in Scotland with my cousin Shannon; it's full of things like this." She replied

"Like, come on we gotta find Scooby." Shaggy said

**Part 7: The Tunnel**

The tunnel was cold and dark, but the ground was solid, definitely man made.

"Any ideas why there's a secret tunnel in the bathroom." Daphne asked.

"Not a clue." Emma answered.

"Tunnels and caves connect the islands around her, but the ground is paved, so it was definitely man made." Velma said.

"Like, up there, I see something. It's, like it's green and glowing." Shaggy said as his voice began to tremble.

The rest of them could see it to, a green glowing hooded creature, with broken manacles and long chains extending from its arms. Scooby was hiding behind a coal cart near the tunnel exit. However before the rest of the gang could find cover, the creature whipped its chains at them. The force of the blow caused the tunnel to collapse; the gang just barely dodged the debris as the creature made another swing. They ran to join Scooby behind the coal cart.

"Like, what is that thing?" Shaggy gasped.

"Rie ron't roh" Scooby answered.

"Escape now, questions later." Fred said.

"Come on, into the cart." Emma said.

They climbed in and Emma kicked the cart down the tracks. They rushed down the increasingly steeper tracks at an ever increasing speed. The creature was hot on their trail in a cart of his own. Daphne took a piece of coal out of the cart and threw it at the monster, it was a direct hit.

"Nice shot Daph." Fred said

"Thank you very much." Daphne answered, with a little glance at Emma.

"Humans" Scooby thought.

The cart stopped right next to the mouth of a cave. Everyone climbed out of the cart, completely covered in coal. When they returned to the house they knew something was wrong. They could see cousin Maldahyde exiting onto one of the small boats from the marina. She must be forfeiting, but something else was wrong, all of the relatives were seeing her off except for Cousin Simple.

**Part 8: Research**

"I was in the bathroom, I heard some noise and ran out, I saw a green chain rattling phantom taking Simple into an elevator hidden in the wall, I tried to get into it but the wall closed."

Slicker's story was unbelievable, but after what the gang had just seen they were ready to go on a little faith. Velma decided it was finally time to visit the library; Daphne, Fred and Emma were going check out the alleged hidden elevator.

Velma was pouring over books in the library, looking for any clues as to what the ghosts might be.

"It's no use, all I've found are some references to soldiers who got lost in the cave; and deposits of Randomonium, nothing is helping, and my computer can't get internet in here!" Velma yelled.

Shaggy whipped out his phone and began dialing, he knew Velma could get stressed if she couldn't find what she was looking for.

"Hello, like Dell, it's me… Shaggy… No, I did not realize tonight was Monster-quest night."

"Doh, I forgot set my DVR to tape that!" Velma said.

"Listen man you record it anyway, I've got something scarier and more interesting… yes, more interesting than their fifth Lock- Ness Monster episode. What do know about Saunders Island and glowing ghosts in chains…? Yes green. Okay I'll put you on Speaker- phone."

Shaggy pressed the small Speaker button and set the phone on the table, Dell's voice echoed through the library.

"Am I on?"

"Yes you're on; now tell us what you know!" Velma screamed at the phone

Scooby eased her back into her seat.

"Okay, so, according to Coolsville lore, during the civil war many of the caves in the surrounding islands were used as bases by both sides. The general belief is that that they were so secret neither side knew the other was hiding just next door, until, one night two Union scouts wandered into a Confederate tunnel. The room they happened to wander into was a secret Confederate treasury. They ran from the tunnels in an effort to report this to their commanders, but they were captured by Confederate soldiers. Two days later the tunnels caved in. When a Confederate search party eventually made it through the rock they found the Union prisoners still chained to the wall with their bodies completely coated in Randomonium dust."

"Like, Zoinks" Shaggy gulped.  
Okay, that explains the ghosts, how does it connect to Saunders Island?" Velma asked, a little more at ease now.

"Saunders Island was the island where the story takes place, it all happened on Saunders Island; Saunders built his house on the Island so he could study the caves and the legend."

"Right, Saunders was a Civil War professor, of course he would want to live here." Velma said.

"Civil War has nothing to do with it; Saunders was a monster chaser, plain and simple. Heck, he was the Elvis of monster chasers, his lectures sold out months in advance" Said Dell.

"Like right, so Saunders buys a creepy island to study an old legend because he was into creepy monster stuff"

"Cryptids" Dell interrupted "they're called Cryptids."

"Right, so where would these caves be located?" Velma asked.

"Under the house most likely" Dell answered.

'Great' Shaggy thought, just his luck. Hopefully the other three taking the elevator would be able to find these caves before He and Scooby got sent into them. He looked down at Scooby and could tell he was thinking the same thing.

**Part 9: The Caves**

Fred, Daphne, and Emma had little trouble finding the elevator. A small panel in the wall revealed it, just like the tunnel in the bathroom. They walked in and Fred pulled the lever to begin their trip down. Rock walls slid past them as they moved. They could hardly believe that the mansion went down this deep. The car stopped and they stepped out into the dark. The cave floor was cold against their feet. The room was narrow and had a low ceiling. They knelt down as they stepped out from the elevator car.

"Why does the ceiling move?" Emma asked.

Fred shined his flashlight towards the ceiling, he could see something moving but he couldn't quite make it out. Daphne approached, she laid a finger to her lips and slowly pushed the flashlight down towards the ground. She mouthed her lips to form a single word, "Bats." As they walked on, Fred whispered to her.

"How did you know those were bats?"

"My cousin's house in Scotland, it's full of them."

"You're cousin has a house with secret passage- ways and bats?"

"It's kind of a big house."

"What, like you're mansion back in Coolsville?"

"Uh, it's a little bigger than that, and older."

"What, you mean like a…"

"Yes, it's a castle!" Daphne whispered slightly louder, some bats squealed on the ceiling then subsided.

Emma who had gotten slightly ahead of them spoke back, her voice was choked up.

"Guys, I… I th… think you'd better come and see this."

Fred and Daphne ran toward her. They looked to where she was shining her flashlight. Lying on the floor was cousin Simple, and he wasn't moving.

Fred knelt down next to him, he checked for a heartbeat, then a pulse. After a moment he looked up.

"He's alive, but not for long."

"I don't understand… what happened to him?" Emma was choking back tears.

"Inside his throat, is something glowing?" Daphne asked.

"Yeah it's… green." Fred answered.

**Part 10: Two are Gone, the Rest Will Go**

Shaggy wasn't used to being the focus of things, that was Fred's job, he was the leader, but now Shaggy was the one getting the phone call.

"Dell just got to the hospital, the doctor says Simple was struck over the head, and then he had Randomonium put down his throat."

Shaggy thought he might have been too blunt about it, the expressions coming from the rest of the assembled relatives weren't pleasant. Then again, maybe that was just the nature of the news. Scooby curled around his leg, Shaggy bent down to pet him.

"Why would the ghost have shoved Rand…, why would the attacker do that?" Velma asked, but the whole gang knew this was rhetorical; it was the way Velma thought. They also all knew that she was excited but trying to contain it for the sake of the family.

"If it was a real ghost we could explain this by the ghost entering his body to suffocate him, like in that Ravencroft novel, but no, a ghost wouldn't use blunt force trauma to the head. But a fake ghost trying to look like a real ghost and trying to send a message to the rest of the heirs... oh yes! someone is trying to use this civil war ghost act to get the inheritance money. But, who? Someone who reads Ben Ravencroft obviously, is familiar with the ghost suffocation ploy… someone who needs money, someone… who…"

Velma had ceased her train of thought; she had also failed in her attempt at sensitivity toward the family. The rest of the gang led her into a separate room, this time Emma stayed with her parents.

"Velma, I know you were trying to figure this out but bear in mind there were other people in the room." Fred said.

"I know, I'm sorry, but I think I figured it out, someone who needs the inheritance money, someone angry that so many people were included in the will with such unorthodox conditions. It has to be Cousin Slicker."

"Velma, you're a genius" They all said in unison.

"Yes, yes I am."

At that moment they heard screams emanate from the other room. They hurried back through the door. The green ghost hovered in the middle of the room.

"Two are gone; the rest will go, now leave this island, Row, Row, Row!" Its voice filled the entire room, it boomed across the hall.

The ghost disappeared in a puff of smoke. Everybody fled to the docks, the assembled relatives had apparently decided to value their safety over the contents of their wallets. The only people who stayed were Mr. Warner, the gang, and Cousin Slicker.

"Sitting room, now!" Michael Warner said.

**Part 11: Cornered**

They all rushed into the sitting room on Michael Warner's command. They slammed the door shut, and barricaded it tight, something Shaggy and Scooby had a real knack for. They took some seats and arranged them in a circle.

"What are you all doing here, didn't you hear that thing?" Slicker said.

"I'm here to find out who that thing is." Michael Warner said.

"What do you mean? It's that ghost Uncle Beauregard always talked about, the civil war soldier who got lost in the caves."

"No, Ms. Dinkley was right, it can't be real ghost, it's someone who needs money, but not competition. You got out here awful quick Slicker, for someone who lives in New York."

Slicker was writhing in his seat; Warner was playing with an elaborate gold ring on his finger.

"He was my uncle, of course I hurried here, besides we're in Florida, the flight is only a couple of hours."

"Yeah, but you said you flew in from a meeting in California when he died, but you got here before we did, and we live in Crystal Cove, the next town over."

Slicker was positively jumping in his seat, he was getting very nervous. Then, he snapped.

"They told me what he was going to do, a contest, with these kids no less, not even family, all I had to do was put the crab bits in his food, he was allergic, an accident, it was supposed to look like an accident."

Slicker was drawing a large pistol from his jacket; he leveled it off at Michael Warner.

"They were supposed to scare you away, but this was always my backup plan. Bye, Bye."

As he was about to pull the trigger Emma snuck up behind him and struck him over the head with a lamp. Michael was surprised for a moment to see his that his daughter has stayed, and then he saw his chance at Slicker and took it. Slicker fell and Michael pounced on him, he pointed the gun straight at Slickers' face.

"Who are you working with!" He shouted.

"What does your dad do for a living?" Daphne asked.

"He's a librarian at Darrow University." She answered.

"Give me a name!" Warner screamed.

"It was…"

Cousin Slicker never got to finish his sentence, a chain crashed through the window and wrapped around Slicker's throat. He was wrenched through the opening. Then the ghosts came in, two of them, hovering above the ground. They removed their hoods to reveal skeletal faces, patches of skin still clinging to the bone.

"Like zoinks!" Shaggy yelled.

Scooby jumped into Shaggy's arms and Velma grasped his hand. On the other side of the room he could see Daphne had done the same to Fred. The ghosts kept moving closer, the first one had slicker wrapped up by the throat in his chain. He was still writhing, alive. The other ghost swung its chain at Warner. He dodged at aimed the gun, then he fired at the oil lamp above them.

"Run!" he shouted as fire burst through the room "go!"

They ran as fast they could. The hallways in the house were like a maze. They ducked into the music room.

"It was him, I knew it!" Velma said.

"Rot rust rim." Scooby said.

"He's right, there were others, Slicker wasn't acting alone." Fred said.

"He wasn't the mastermind, he was ordered to do this." Daphne said. She hadn't let go of Fred's hand since the ghosts came.

"Like, no, but he didn't plan on sharing the money, he didn't bring that gun for us, he brought it for his partners." Shaggy said.

"Partners, plural?" Daphne asked

"Two ghosts, Slicker said 'they', not 'he or she', they." Velma paused, "I was wrong, they don't want the money."

"What do you mean they don't want the money?" Fred said.

"They don't want they inheritance, they want the land, and if only one person stays they get the land. If they wanted the inheritance, they wouldn't have tried to kill Simple; if one relative dies the inheritance goes to his next of kin. Only leaving the island takes a person out of the contest, the lawyer told me, he wouldn't shut up about it." Velma clarified.

"Like right but if everyone goes, the land goes to the state." Shaggy said.

"But if everyone stays, the land becomes a time share, equal ownership. They wanted us to find Simple, that's why Slicker told us about the elevator." Daphne said.

"So, they want something on the island, but what?" Fred said.

"Ronfederate Resury." Scooby barked.

"Like right, the confederate treasury that Dell said was on the island. That's what they needed Slicker for, to win the contest." Shaggy finished.

Emma, who had been silent since they entered the room, spoke up shakily.

"Guys, look at the walls."

They turned their heads to see that the walls of the room were closing in. They rushed to the walls, tying to stop them. They looked all around the room; they looked for anything that could save them. The room was empty save for some music books and the piano they rested on. On the far wall there were words scratched into the wood; _FEED the organ and watch the floor. _Everyone was frantic, as the walls came in further they felt sure that their fate was sealed.

Shaggy crouched down by Scooby and put his arms around him; Velma knelt by him and did the same. Emma was grasping Fred's hand, and for a moment Daphne was as well. Then she stood up grabbed Fred's head, kissed him and ran toward the piano. She played four notes F-E-E-D. The walls receded and a collective sigh of relief came from everyone in the room.

Then they came back, the ghosts, their costumes were tattered rags. There, cut up, faces were just barely visible beneath their masks, but the identity of one was clear. Michael Warner came in after them brandishing a saber from Sanders' armory. Scooby put his paw on the rug the creatures were standing on.

"Righ rav rad renough rof rou!" He barked.

He pulled the rug away and the creatures fell into the pit below. Everyone looked down into the pit to see Cosgoode Creeps and a man they could only assume to be his partner, Jacob Crawls laying motionless in a pit of gold. 

**Part 12: Epilogue**

Michael Warner walked the path through the grounds of Darrow University; the images of the past weekend went through his mind. They had retrieved the lawyers from the pit; they were alive, whether or not that was a good thing he had yet to decide. The coast guard had come arrested them, and Slicker for murder, conspiracy, and so many other things. Those children were very clever, they had it all figured out. The lawyers had used a series of ropes and pulleys in order to create the flying effects. They had installed them while appraising the house after Sanders' death. The real problem had been explaining his behavior during the fight to his family, but it was important that they didn't find out who he really was. The rest had been awkward social moments, especially the conversation between the Blake girl and the Jones boy. He had a feeling that his daughter was involved in that to, but the Blake girl did not know Emma had a boyfriend already. These were of, course, things that he would not include in the report to his superior. He walked up to the mirror in the private room in the library and he pressed his ring onto the cold glass. His superior's image swirled into being.

"Michael, have you come to make your report?"

"Yes sir. Why could I not just approach you in person? You're only in the next town over" Michael answered.

"After the experience the children had in this house, I prefer they not see you here, lest you arouse more suspicion."

"I had to protect my family."

"I understand, so, was it _his_ agents?"

"No, but Slicker does have links to Destroido, one of his business fronts."

"Interesting, well I suppose even his money needs replenishing."

"Sir, I believe that it was the Randomonium deposits on the Island that he was after."

"Well, we can be sure that you will be looking after those won't you, after all, you won the contest, congratulations."

"Myself and the children sir, thank you."

"Of course, do you have anything else to add to your report?"

"One more thing sir, and I believe this to be very important, the Rogers boy, he had a ring."

"Is he not allowed to wear one?"

"No you don't understand sir; he had one of our rings." Warner said holding his own ring up to the glass to punctuate the idea.

"We have an agent close to him, is it possible that it was their ring?" He said, chewing on the word close.

"No sir, he said that it belonged to an ancestor in the civil war, and I know for a fact that the agent you're speaking of was given his ring only when he joined the order."

"Interesting, you are sure this was one of our rings, you saw the inscription?"

"Yes sir, _VH, _Van Helsing."

"We must keep an eye on the situation. Thank you Michael"

"Yes, Mr. Van Ghoul."


End file.
